🔗 Share this article High-Street Beauty Lookalikes Could Save You a Bundle. But Do Budget Skincare Items Actually Work? Rachael Parnell She says with some lookalikes she "can't tell the difference". When one shopper learned a discounter was selling a fresh product collection that looked comparable to products from premium company Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited". She dashed to her closest shop to pick up the Lacura face cream for a low price for 50ml - a small portion of the £240 price tag of the high-end 50ml product. The streamlined blue packaging and gold top of both creams look remarkably alike. And though she has not tested the high-end cream, she claims she's satisfied by the dupe so far. She has been purchasing lookalike products from high street stores and grocery stores for years, and she's in good company. Over a fourth of UK shoppers state they've tried a skincare or makeup lookalike. This increases to 44% among younger adults, based on a recently published survey. Alternatives are skincare products that imitate bigger name brands and present affordable alternatives to luxury products. These products frequently have alike names and packaging, but occasionally the formulas can vary significantly. Victoria Woollaston High-end vs affordable: Augustinus Bader's 50ml face cream costs £240, while Aldi's new store-brand face cream is £8.49. 'High-Priced Isn't Always Superior' Beauty specialists argue some substitutes to high-end labels are decent standard and aid make skincare cheaper. "It is not true that more expensive is always better," comments consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not all low-budget beauty label is inferior - and not every high-end skincare product is the top." "A number of [dupes] are really impressive," adds a podcast host, who hosts a program with famous people. A lot of of the items modeled on high-end labels "sell out so quickly, it's just unbelievable," he observes. Scott McGlynn Podcast host Scott McGlynn states some affordable products he has tried are "great". Skin specialist another professional argues alternatives are suitable to use for "simple routines" like hydrators and cleansers. "Dupes will be effective," he says. "They will do the essentials to a acceptable degree." A consultant dermatologist, thinks you can save money when searching for simple-formula products like HA, Vitamin B3 and squalane. "If you're buying a single-ingredient item then you're probably going to be alright in using a dupe or something which is fairly low cost because there's not much that can cause issues," she explains. 'Don't Be Swayed by the Packaging' However the professionals also suggest consumers check details and state that more expensive items are sometimes worth the premium price. Regarding luxury skincare, you're not only covering the label and advertising - sometimes the increased price tag also is due to the ingredients and their quality, the strength of the active ingredient, the research utilized to create the product, and studies into the products' performance, the expert explains. Skin therapist Rhian Truman argues it's worth thinking about how certain alternatives can be sold so inexpensively. Occasionally, she believes they may have less effective components that do not provide as numerous positive effects for the skin, or the components might not be as carefully selected. "One major question mark is 'How is it so cheap?'" she remarks. Podcast host Scott notes in some cases he's purchased beauty products that look similar to a established brand but the actual formula has "no connection to the original". "Don't be convinced by the outer appearance," he warned. SimpleImages/Getty Images An expert advises sticking to more specialised labels for products with ingredients like vitamin A or ascorbic acid. For advanced items or ones with components that can aggravate the complexion if they're not made correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, she advises sticking to medical-grade companies. She says these will likely have been subjected to costly studies to determine how successful they are. Beauty items must be evaluated before they can be available in the UK, notes expert another professional. If the label states about the performance of the product, it requires data to verify it, "however the brand does not necessarily have to perform the trials" and can instead cite studies done by other firms, she clarifies. Read the Label of the Bottle Is there any ingredients that could indicate a product is poor? Ingredients on the back of the tube are listed by quantity. "Ingredients to avoid that you need to avoid… is your petroleum-derived oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, benzel peroxide" being {high up